Washington Monument Now Glows At Night

Monday night when the lights came on, visitors came to see a glowing Washington Monument.

Jonathan Ernst
/ Reuters/Landov

Listen

Listening...

/

Originally published on July 9, 2013 9:57 am

The Two-Way team enjoyed a new view on the way to work in the predawn hours Tuesday morning:

The Washington Monument was all aglow.

As NPR's Trina Williams tells us, 488 lights are giving the monument some sparkle each night. The lights have been installed on scaffolding that surrounds the monument and were switched on at dusk Monday.

The scaffolding is there because workers are repairing cracks and other damage caused by the Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake that shook the Mid-Atlantic states. A blue/gray fabric covers the scaffolding. The lights shine from behind that covering.

According to The Washington Post, "the lighting is no one-time affair. Sensors will switch on the illumination each night until the scaffolding is removed late this year or next." The Post reminds readers that the monument was also lighted this way when other repairs were made from 1998-2000.